The present invention relates generally to the treatment of patients and products for treating patients. More specifically, the present invention relates to enteral solutions for providing nutritional support to patients.
It is of course known to feed patients, requiring nutrition in a hospital or other health care setting (including a home), with enteral or parenteral nutrition solutions. Parenteral nutrition solutions include solutions that are infused intravenously into the patient through an IV system. Enteral products include products that are fed into a patient's gastrointestinal system typically through a nasogastric feeding tube.
There are a variety of different products that have been designed to provide enteral nutritional support to a patient. Some of these products are designed to provide all necessary nutrients. On the other hand, a number of the enteral products can also be used as supplements to a normal diet. Some of these products are directed to specific disease states while other products are more generic and broad based for providing nutritional support to patients who cannot obtain necessary nutrients through traditional means of eating food.
Depending on the indication of the enteral solution, the formulation may change. For example, certain patient populations may require increased protein levels. Likewise, certain patient populations may require hydrolyzed or non intact protein.
Nutritional enteral products include: Glytrol®; NutriHep®; NutriVent®; Probalance®; RenalCal®; Crucial®; Peptamen®; Peptamen VHP®; NuBasics®; NuBasics VHP®; Entrition®; Nutren®; Reablian®; Reablian HN®; Replete®; Travasorb®; Peptamen Jr.®; and Elementra®, all available from Nestlé Clinical Nutrition, Deerfield, Ill. A number of other manufacturers sell enteral nutrition products including Ross Laboratories a division of Abbott Laboratories, Mead Johnson, and Novartis.
In certain enteral products serum separation has been observed. This physical instability reduces the product's elegance. Further, it may create an adverse impression in the minds of some consumers regarding the product's quality and acceptability, even though such serum separation does not adversely affect the quality or efficacy of the product.
There is therefore a need for improving the stability of at least certain enteral solutions.